Kitcher and the obsessive unifier
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 77 (2):493-506 (2008)
| Abstract | Philip Kitcher's account of scientific progress incorporates a conception of explanatory unification that invites the so-called 'obsessive unifier' worry, to wit, that in our drive to unify the phenomena we might impose artificial structure on the world and consequently produce an incorrect view of how things, in fact, are. I argue that Kitcher's attempt to address this worry is unsatisfactory because it relies on an ability to choose between rival patterns of explanation which itself rests on the relevant choice having already been made. I also suggest a way of answering the worry that Kitcher is not likely to endorse. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesEric Barnes (1992). Explanatory Unification and Scientific Understanding. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1992:3 - 12.
Eric Barnes (1992). Explanatory Unification and the Problem of Asymmetry. Philosophy of Science 59 (4):558-571.
Todd Jones (1997). Unification, Reduction, and Non-Ideal Explanations. Synthese 112 (1):75-96.
Stathis Psillos (1997). Kitcher on Reference. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 11 (3):259 – 272.
M. Solomon (1995). Legend Naturalism and Scientific Progress: An Essay on Philip Kitcher's the Advancement of Science. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 26 (2):205-218.
Victor Gijsbers (2007). Why Unification is Neither Necessary nor Sufficient for Explanation. Philosophy of Science 74 (4):481-500.
Sarah Hoffman (2004). Kitcher, Ideal Agents, and Fictionalism. Philosophia Mathematica 12 (1):3-17.
Jeffrey W. Roland (2008). Kitcher, Mathematics, and Naturalism. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 86 (3):481 – 497.
Robert A. Skipper Jr (1999). Selection and the Extent of Explanatory Unification. Philosophy of Science 66 (3):209.
Jeffrey W. Roland (2009). A Euthyphronic Problem for Kitcher's Epistemology of Science. Southern Journal of Philosophy 47 (2):205-223.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads27 ( #45,856 of 549,754 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,425 of 549,754 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
